Spring suspension for vehicles.



APPLICATION FILED MAY 31, 1911.

Patented J an. 2, 1912.

2 sntETs SHEET 1.

J. J. GHARLEY. SPRING SUSPENSION FOR VEHICLES.

. APPLIOATION FILED MAY 31, 1911. 1 01 ,742 Patented Jan. 2, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

, parts, a good appearance, and not requiring and Ireland, &c., residing at Malvern, in' the wheel mechanism whereby reduction of vibut such springs are superfluous, .viated by JOHN JOSEPH CHARLEY, OF MALVERN, V

icrdnm, A STRALIA.

SPRING SUSPENSION FOR VEHICLES.

- Application filed May 31, 1911.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OHN JosEPH CHAn- LEY, a subject of the King of Great Britaln State of Victoria, Commonwealth of Australia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in and Relating to, Spring Suspension for Vehicles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to spring suspension for automobiles and other vehicles. Among its objects are the provision of certain combinations of springs, and road bration is secured so that persons may ride greater comfort, and freight be carried with less jolting. The parts provided distribute and mitigateshocks caused by road inequalities, and prevent passengers or goods from being severely shaken.

The effect of my mechanism when a gutter or an obstruction is dverridden by a front or a back road wheel, is not" only to minimize shocks but it also quickly brings back the said mechanism to normal after each such shock.

This invention permits of rubber or other solid tires being employed'in'stead-of pneumatic, and it reduces initial aswell as maintenance costs. The Cardan'joint usual in motor car driving shafts is not essentialin my mechanism, as I fix the motor shaft in suitable alinement. I employ several features covered by my Patent No. 967 ,728, to the specification of Which reference may be made. Thus I use wheels at each side in tandem, the set of wheels on one side of the vehicle not being directly connected to that on the other, but connections from one side to the other are provided-by. a forward and a rear transverse shaft. These keep the frames of the wheel sets in alinement, and support the members ,which secure the spring suspension to the'vehiclebody, or any frame carrying the latter. The car body or the like may have a spring frame,

being obmy arrangement of springs at' each side of the chassis. My construction is simple, having few Specification of Letters Patent.

much space,

panymg drawings in which the rear part 7 p be at each side of the frame a, one of th'elOO Patented Jan. 2,1912. Serial No. 680,288,

in motor cars the spring'portions in Figure 4 being located beneath footboards. A

Th e invention is illustrated in the accom- Fig. 1 is a side elevation (in section through a casing) of parts of a motor car embodying my invention. Fig. 2 -is a plan of Fig. 1,"one side being in horizontal section. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view, on an enlarged scale, of .the rocker" spring. F ig.'4 'is', a sectional plan View, on an enlarged scale, of the cushioning device. Fig. 5 illustrates a modification of Fig. '1: Figs. 6 and 7 are diagrams in side'elevation' to illustrate the action of the parts when a road obstacleis encountered by a wheel.- If both of the front, or both 'of tlie rear road wheels simultaneously encounter a road I obstacle or depression, the tiltingxor'aduck ing (which is extremely disagreeable to passengers) of the car body will be less than in thelcase of all other constructions known .to'me. .f

I. use a frame. a, or under-part for the vehicle body. This frame has four road wheels, two'froiit 'wheelsb', and-two rear wheels 6 'To'each: road wheel I apply a rocking member a, each havingone end mounted upon or adapted to be acted upon by a s' ring at which'may be 'set on an arm g descri ed' later as'in the aforesaid patent; The other end of thef'roc'ker 'c is downwardlybent, with its end, 0 extended beyond the rocker pivot h, the lower rear end of a forward rocker being jointed or pivoted to a rearward connecting rod e, Orin some cases a chain or cord, 'to operate a spring cushioning device, mainly at the front part f thereof, but partly rearward. The lower front end of the rearward rocker c on each side of the frame a has a'forward connecting rod e 'also connected to the cushioning device, which it"operates mainly at of said device. There w'ill springdevices f f located 'intermediately between a forward and rear rocker. It may comprise a series of spiral springs, compressed air cylinders, or any other suitable shock absorbing and distributing means, usingrubber, metal or othersuitablelmaterials.

located comparativelynear the ground, ad-

By my construction part a may be mitting of the car bod hereon bein advantageously set low a so. Any shoc received .by a road wheel on encountering a depression or obstruction is made to consecutively affect, but with diminishing force, the springs of the said series.

By causing the body of a car fitted with my lnvention to make a chart of its movements during its passage over irregularities of level of the road, it is found that the chart shows no sudden rise corresponding to such irregularities, but only a mild or gradual curve from and back to a normal horizontal line resulting from charting on a level road. Fig. 6 shows by dotted lines positions of various. parts when the front wheel 6 is passin over a small obstacle 6 As these dotted llnes show, the shock is divided between front and rear wheel devices, the car body or frame a remaining horizontal or very nearly so.

from moving said patent.

When as in Fig. 7 wheel 6 passes over an unusually high and abrupt obstacle b, a spring Z which is more fully explained later, will be fully compressed against a stop marked g thus reventing the rod 6 arther orward. In this view wheel 6 is raised, also rod e, which has also been drawn farther forward so compressing a spring undermentioned against a plate or buffer m. The front of the car body or frame a is thus temporarily higher than its rear; the back of rear rocker 0 is pressed down compressing spring d below it. That is shocks to one road wheel are transmitted to another road wheel on the same side reversely.

In Figs. 1 and 4 my spiral spring arrangement is shown; in Fig. 2 the footboard a covers the casing of these springs. As will be understood later, the parts in Fig. 4 be sides transferring and mitigating shocks, act as a normalizing means, to stop the continuance of vibration from shocks, and quickly restore the various parts to their usual positions as when running on the level.

The springs d, under ends of rockers c nearest the respective road wheels I) or b, are supported over any suitable part of an arm or bracket g, which acts at its outer end as a road wheel axle support, its inner end g being pivoted ineach case on a transverse axle at the front or the rear of the frame a, in a suitable manner as described for example in the specification of my afore- As shown in Fig. 3, which shows also ends of parts 0 and g, a tension spring (1 may be set within spring d to limit the range of action of the latter, and assist to return it to normal after it has been compressed by a jolt on a road wheel.

In the spiral spring intermediate mechanism there are two outer springs 70, k, and two inner springs Z, Z in 'a line. There are also outer abutment or buffer plates m, m,

detail only in Fig.

and inner abutment plates m m These, the springs, and other parts described later, are, as illustrated, conveniently housed within a casing o. This casing has guides or bearings for rods e, e as apertures 0 0 A diaphragm n between springs Z, Z consists of two similar plates 11), asseen in 4, bolted together by means of central bolt 17?, which is a nut. Plates 1;. have between them a recess which contains the heads p of longitudinal connecting bolts or the like, two bolts at the front marked p, and two at the rear 12 Springs Z, Z are called diaphragm springs and k, k buffer springs. The springs are set so that normally the rocker rods 6, e pull the bases of the pivoted rockers 0 so that the said rocker rods at their heads or upper ends compress the springs d. It isthe springs d which, in effect, bear the cars weight.

Bolts p pass through the plates m and m, and the springs Z, k, and have screwed ends on which are nuts m against which abuts the platem, the spring is being slightly normally in compression and thus capable of further compression.

Bolts p pass't'hrough the plate m and are secured to the plate m by nuts 00 thus holding the spring 70 in compression. With this construction each rod 6 and 6 upon the other,-subject to the springs Z, Z

On each rearwardly extending rode is a nut, e or the like, next to the buffer or pressure plate m so that the rod transmits the shock to the said plate when the rod e is drawn forward. The plate then compresses the spring is against the plate m which acts on the long connecting rods p, mits motion to the diaphragm n. The diaphragm is thus pulled forward against the second spring Z of the series, compressing the latter against a stop plate or member 9 which is suitably fixed, as to the footboard of the car, or to the frame a. Spring Z by resisting said pull, limits the travel or comression of the spring is, and thus by its ef-. ect on the parts 6, c, and d the tilting up of the car body is restrained.

Rods p or the like extend rearwardly beyond the diaphragm n, through the spring is and the plate m against which rests the rear end of the rear spring k this spring is by the forward pull of the rods pressed against the frontal movable plate or buffer m the motion of which will however be slight.

At the rear of the diaphragm n is the third spring Z of the series abutting against a stop plate 9 which is fixed as to the footboard a. The diaphragm 'n, is held between the springs Z, Z normally centrally, and is by my arrangement of springs'returned to normal after each road inequality is overridden, the other parts in Figs. 1 and 4 being on the rear end of will act and so transdiaphragm n.

also returned to normal. Parts 9, g are al'.-

described as to the rod e. Smaller springs s, A

s, Fig. 4, are called rocker rod head springs and inserted between the heads 6 e ofthe rods e, e and the front and rear of the When the springs I0, 70 are in normal positions the springs 8,, 8 are compressed and act as solid buffers to the rod heads 6 a but act as followers when the springs 7c, 70 are compressed.

I may add at will rubber or pneumatic cushions (not shown) as insideend plates m, m

In the case of a comparatively slight obstruction like 6 in Fig. 6, the parts which actafter the front spring 03 receives the jolt communicated b the road wheel, are' "the front rocker 0 w ich moves on its pivot h,the rod 6, which is pulled forward, the full series f, f of the springs and buffer plates except parts 9, g and the casing 0 which are fixed, the said series being pulled forward without alteration of any of the springs, except Z and Z (Z being compressed by the diaphragm n, and Z expanding to correspond), in addition'the rod 6 is pulled forward and swings the rear; rocker c on its pivot so compressing the rear spring d. In this way each such obstruction as b has the shock it causes transmitted along the connected parts between the tandem wheels, the shock being so absorbed as not to appreciably jolt the car body. Casing o is suitably fixed to the chassis' or footboard.

In the case of the high obstruction 6 action as above described with reference to Fig. 6 takes place, but the severity of the jolt on thefront .spring d causes the additional action next indicated. A continuation of forward pull of the rod e causes its head 6 to push forward or advance the plate m which compresses the spring is against the plate m, which pressing on the nuts :12 advances the rods p, which draw forward the diaphragm n, which inturn advance the rods 1), which by pulling on the nuts m advance the plate mi'which compresses forwardly the spring is, thus advaneing the plate m and therefore the rod e The final severity of the pull of the rod e is thus transmitted through the said rod e to the rear rocker c and the rear spring at.

The various parts of my mechanism .will in practice be adjusted to allow of act-ion as described so that sizes and lengths of springs will be regulated accordingly, the drawings being merely diagrammatic.

p, p are called diaphragm rods or bolts.

. ing arm,

slidably mounted on each rod, a

The invention is applicable whether all the road wheels be positively and simultaneously driven, or the rear, or the front wheels only.

It is to be understood that slight changes in the form, proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted towithout departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having fully described my invention what I claim is. 1. In a spring sus ension for vehicles, transverse shafts each avin pivoted thereon at each side a rocker and a wheel carryrocker and arm whereby a shock to a wheel is transmitted to its rocker, and an intermediate spring connection between the front.

and rear rockers to mitigate and transmit a shock to restore the mechanism to. its normal position, substantially as described.

Ina spring suspension for vehicles, a frame, transverse shafts for supporting the front and rear ends of the frame, arms pivotally connected to the shafts at each side of the frame, wheels carried by the arms, rockers pivoted on the shafts at each side of the frame, a spring for transmit-ting shocks. on each wheel and the adjacent rocker and resilient means for connecting the rockers. on the same side of the frame tendingto keep in normal position and further the frame mitigate the shocks on the wheels, substantially as described.

3. In a spring suspension for vehicles, a frame, transverse shafts for supporting the frame, arms pivotally connected .to the shafts at each side of the frame, wheels carried by the arms, rockers pivoted on the shafts at each side of the frame, a spring between each rocker and arm for transmitting a shock to a wheel to its rocker. a rod pivotally connected to each rocker, a pressure plate at the end of each rod, a buffer plate slldably mounted on each rod, a spring inteigosed between each pressure plate and buer plate, means connecting the buffer plates together, and means for further relieving shocks on the stantially as described.

4. In a spring suspension for vehicles, a frame, transverse shafts for supporting the frame, arms pivotally connected to the shafts at each side of the frame, wheels carried by the arms, rockers pivoted on the shafts at each side of the frame, a spring between each rocker and arm for transmitting a shock to a wheel to its rocker, a rod piv otally connected. to each rocker, a pressure plate at the end of each rod, a buffer plate spring interposed between each pressure plate and bufler plate, a diaphragm arranged intermediate the pressure plates, bolts connecting the diaphragm with the buffer plates, a fixed stpp plate at each side of the diaa spring or, cushion between each buffer plates, subphragm, and a spring interposed between the diaphragm and each stop plate, substantially as described.

5. In a spring suspension for vehicles, a frame, transverse shafts for supporting the frame, arms pivotally connected to the shafts at each side of the frame, ried by the arms, rockers pivoted on the shafts at each side of the frame, a spring between each rocker and arm for transmitting a shock to a wheel to its rocker, a rod pivotally connected to each rocker, a pressure plate at the end of each rod, a buffer plate slidably mounted on each rod, a

spring interposed between each pressure wheels ca'r a diaphragm arplate and buffer plate,

lates,

ranged intermediate the pressure bolts connecting the diaphragm wit bufier plates, a fixed stop plate at each side of the diaphragm, a spring interposed between the diap ragm and each stop plate, and a spring arranged between the diaphragm and the inner ends of each said rod, substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN JOSEPH CHARLEY. Witnesses:

WILEIAM L. BEA'I'IIE,

BEATRICE M. LOWE.

the 

